Hotel revenue dips in 2009 in Genesee County, though not as badly as rest of the nation

Ryan Garza | The Flint JournalGladys Clifton, cleans a room earlier this week at the Holiday Inn in Mundy Township. Though down from 2008 levels, the hotel had the highest revenue in 2009 in Genesee County. The hotel completed a $1.3-million renovation last year.GENESEE COUNTY, Michigan — Genesee County’s 10 biggest revenue-generating hotels all saw income fall in 2009 compared to 2008, but a tourism official said the county fared better than some other parts of the country.

Preliminary 2009 numbers show Genesee County’s 25 top hotels and motels collected $19.79 million in revenue in 2009, down 11.9 percent from 2008, according to the Flint Area Convention & Visitors Bureau. Those figures could change somewhat since some hotels have yet to report all revenue for the year.

“Being down is not good, but it’s better than the U.S. when you get right down to it,” said Jerry Preston, president of the visitor’s bureau that receives funding through a county hotel tax.

Information from Smith Travel Research, a national group that collects hotel data, shows Genesee County hotel revenue down 7.2 percent in 2009 over 2008.

And Genesee County’s hotels performed “quite a bit better than the nationwide averages,” said Jeff Higley, a spokesman for Smith Travel Research.

“We expect the overall hotel industry environment to pick up momentum as the year progresses,” he added. “It’s still going to be a challenging year, but the belief is that the last four or five months of 2010 should provide a stable foundation to grow on in 2011.”

Preston said a lot of Genesee County hotel stays are business related and, with the poor economy, some businesses haven’t been traveling.

“If the economy starts recovering, business will start traveling again and that will be good for us,” he said.

Genesee County’s hotel revenue could be impacted by travelers spending less on their hotel rooms as well, Preston said.

“The ones that are hurting are the more expensive properties,” he said. “People are staying at the less expensive properties.”

While Genesee County’s top two properties – the Holiday Inn and Courtyard, both in Mundy Township – each saw significant declines of several hundred thousand dollars over 2008, the third hotel on the list saw revenue nearly flat from 2008.

The Holiday Inn Express in Flint saw its revenue fall less than 1 percent.

“Things that are changing in the downtown area are reflecting on our hotel sales,” said Rose Seaman, regional director of sales for the 120-room property near downtown.

Seaman said the property has many business travelers and picked up an airline crew to stay with them. It gets return business by keeping prices between $79 and $99 a night the past few years.

A few of the top 25 hotels and motels saw their revenue improve in 2009 over 2008, such as the Home Town Inn in Flint Township.

The roughly 135-room property posted revenue of $769,500 in 2009, up 29.1 percent from 2008.

Why the increase?

“Rooms are more reasonably priced,” said John Henson, general manager, adding the property gets a lot of return business. “We run like $40 a night.”

Genesee County welcomed its first Hilton property in 2009, when a Hampton Inn & Suites opened in November in Mundy Township.

And it’s possible, too, that Genesee County could see new properties added in the next year or so.

Two hotels are planned for Fenton and there is talk of a hotel planned for Davison Township, Preston said.

But the drop in hotel revenue has affected the visitor’s bureau, which laid off four of 16 employees at the end of 2009. The bureau receives 75 percent of a 5 percent annual room tax.

“It hurt us considerably in ’09 and we’re forecasting a budget more than $100,000 down for ’10,” Preston said.

Top 10

Hotels with the highest revenue in Genesee County in 2009 and how that revenue compares to 2008: